Vehicle traffic to and from construction sites has been cited as a significant contributing source of sedimentary pollution in waterways. Construction vehicles collect mud, dirt, sand and other potential pollutants while on the construction site. When these vehicles leave the site, they track these materials with them onto public roads. Then when it rains, the storm runoff carries these materials into lakes, streams and other waterways. Depending of on the size and scope of the construction project, and the requirements of the jurisdiction in which the construction site is located, different permitting may apply to ensure that applicable clean water regulations and statutes are satisfied. The construction industry in the United States has established Best Management Practices (BMPs) which, among other things, provides guidance to construction contractors as to how they can establish controls at their worksites that will satisfy the requirements set forth by permitting agencies.
One of relevant requirements set forth by the BMPs is for construction sites to establish clearly defined vehicle ingress and egress locations and to install Vehicle Tracking Control (VTC) measures at these locations. That is, these VTC measures must control the tracking of sedimentary material by vehicles from the construction site. On nearly all construction sites, the VTC measure typically used at ingress and egress locations is the temporary rock vehicle tracking pad (VTP), which comprises a temporary pad of rock material. The effectiveness of a rock VTP will depend on the size and type of rock used, the length and depth of the pad, as well as how well it is maintained. After repeated use, the rock material can become covered in mud reducing their effectiveness. Therefore, rock VTPs will typically need to be refreshed. Further, heavy vehicles tend to push the rock material into the ground and force mud to the surface. An initial nine inch deep rock pad may become over six feet deep over the course of a project due to rock added to refresh the pad.
Once construction is done, the site of the pad must be stabilized. In some cases, the site may be covered with hardscape such as with concrete or asphalt. But in other cases, the site may need to be landscaped such as with trees, mulch, bark, flowers, sod or natural grasses or other types of vegetation. For the latter, at least some depth of the rock VTP must be removed and top soil brought in to support and enable proper growth of the plant life. Further, to close out the construction permit and receive a passing final inspection of the site, a minimum density uniform coverage of established restored vegetation is required by the permitting agency. Thus, even for just a short duration construction project of only a few days, the task of restoring vegetation after removal of the rock VTP may take a year or longer and require periodic re-inspection of the site. Restoration after removal of the rock VTP may be one of the more significant costs associated with stormwater management of a project.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for vehicle tracking control.